Interesting thought. Certainly the Jupiter 80 is getting towards the end of its production cycle. Commonly (across all manufacturers) it seems that 5 or 6 years is the max. The Jupiter 80 was launched in 2011, so indeed it could be up for replacement.

I don't think the time is right for a new Jupiter. With the direction Roland has been going, their focus now is cheap and simple. They abandoned the complexity of the Jupiter soon after its release with the simpler model of the Integra. Everything following it has been based on the Integra engine (no layers, no sound dependencies) or ACB. Except for the Montage, all the innovation these days is in hands-on analog (real or emulated).

I think Roland has milked the SuperNATURAL engine for all it's worth now, so I can't see the demand for any more spin-offs. Also, ACB seems to be limited to emulating old synths, not pushing new boundaries. So I'm really curious as to what Roland will announce next.

A true, modern analog (or hybrid) flagship with the Roland sound would be extremely tempting. The JD XA and the System 8 have both been half-hearted efforts. I'd love twice the quality for twice the price! I hope for some WOW, but I suspect the flagship push died with the company's founder.

If Roland goes to Jupiter again it should not be what the Jupiter-80 is. Something along the lines of what the JD-XA's synth engine and control panel is really what most people familiar with the Jupiter legacy were expecting and still want now. They want powerful and innovative synthesis and realtime hardware controls. Thinking on this topic maybe the new RD-2000 could be a successor to the Jupiter-80 as far as a Performance stage keyboard goes. It appears well built like the Jupiter-80 and has a Supernatural sound engine. It may not be able to do all of the layering of the Jupiter-80 but it is what it is though personally am not interested in it. I would prefer a 61 note Jupiter with performance features and realtime controls: panel full of sliders and knobs. If we get new Jupiter and Roland do not make it more in the vain of the classic Jupiter-8 or 6 forget it. I like my Jupiter-80 and -50 for what they are but I would expect something with real analog. The Hybrid idea of the JD-XA is awesome. 4 notes of analog polyphony was weak But that synth proved Roland can do something interesting and innovative. Again, thesynth engine of the JD-XA or that idea with a beefed up analog engine with more polyphony ( at least 8 not 4 voices) and maintain the Hybrid idea of combining the digital and analog synth engines. I have been a long time Roland user. My first synth was a Roland Juno-106 and my studio is mostly Roland but honestly, I feel like I have run my course with Roland. I have sold several synths lately too like my JD-800, JP-8000, V-Synth, System-1, and JD-Xi. I also had the Boutiques JP-08, JU-06, JX-03 and sold them because I really hated the 4 voice polyphony and lack of performance controls like the original in the bender section. The boutiques sound good for a digital recreation but I wish Roland gave a little more. I know there is the System-8. I am not sure I want it. I made the decision to sell all of those synths based on what I use the most. In my set-up I still have my Juno-106 and a Juno-60, JX-3P, D-50, D-5, JV-1080, W-50, Fantom X6, Jupiter-80 and Jupiter-50. I have been using Roland synthesizers for over 25 years now and they have been my favorite synth company all those years. I am satisfied with what Roland gear I have. I would love to get a real Jupiter-8 in my hands but that is not going to happen.I would hope Roland would do another Jupiter but if they do I hope they do not make it like the sound engine and control interface of the Jupiter-80. Presently I am looking at the Deepmind 12. I would have never thought I would be looking into getting a Behringer instrument and let alone a synthesizer from Behringer but what they are doing is what I am more interested in at this time. For me getting sample playback synths is over. I am not too keen on digital recreations when I already have the real deal (JU-06 vs Juno-106 or JX-03 vs JX-3P) I still love the old Roland analog synths and would love to see Roland return to their roots. Imagine the synths of the past with updated tech too. Those old synth engines and interfaces with modern flexibility like flash memory, USB interfacing, etc. There could be so many possibilities but Roland was not ever going in those directions until the JD-XA. NOw we wait and see if there will be a new Jupiter. If so what will it be? If not we have what we have and if you want a Jupiter-8 you have to pay the price of admission and deal with the issues that come with an aging synth.I still have a side of me that says GO ROLAND!

[at namm 2017] I spoke with one of the well respected top synth guys who was at roland (I forget his name but hes done many of the roland jp-80 vids when the machine was released) then when the jp80 was coming out, and he said Ikutaro Kakehashi made the jp-80 to be what the Jupiter 8 SHOULD have been back in the day.

the jp80 was the last keyboard to get metal panels and that beefy construction, and there were not (at that time in january 2017) any plans to make another version in Roland's immediate future.

of course, he didnt know about the RD2000 until 2 weeks prior to namm, and he had to read the manual (Sans synth at the time) and get up to speed by namm launch, so.... ;-)